Despite stories of road stonings, we decided to rent a car. What pushed us over the top was the airport staff. Our self-proclaimed ex-drug addict of a safari travel guide swore to us that the roads were still dangerous due to road stonings that happened 10 years ago. When it came to our game time decision, we sought second, third and fourth opinions. Everyone laughed at us when we asked (do road stonings still happen regularly?). The airport staff was right, but it added a bit more excitement for us.
Not that we needed more excitement... Jason was re-learning how to drive a stick shift with his left hand while driving on the other side of the road. Jessica got a hand workout on the car's handles. Jason made it successfully. Good thing!
Our first room was a bed and breakfast at a beautiful, classic and large estate. The owners were an English family whose ancestors came for opportunity after the destructive world war 2, and stayed for the weather. They bought a giant estate and subdivided it later. Now, the youngest son makes experimental wines from grapes only found on the original estate. The current owners love to chat and learn about their guests over breakfast and we obliged. But, we also learned quite a bit about them! They met in England when the husband was there for "polishing school" after his "improper" south African raising. He said it was a joke. She was from rural England an never imagined moving to South Africa. The weather, and the estate encouraged them to move. Now they live on a beautiful family estate surrounded by ancestral paintings, old maps, and beautiful country side. They currently raise race horses and have all of their kids living on their estate around them (in separate houses). All together, they have 9 dogs on the estate for their sole source of protection. The father refuses to close the outside gate, which was quite relieving to us: finally, a place in south Africa with less danger. We also learned that they love to go on safaris for a fortnight every year. They had their own exciting sightings to tell and we were enthralled. Their real passion was twitching (bird watching). Such a fun couple! The picture below is one house on the estate.
We later found that dogs were a regular occurrence in wine country. Jessica was in heaven. The dogs mostly roam free and dig as they see fit. However, they have the important job of protecting the land from men and beasts. Even leopards roam these mountains.
Eventually, we drank wine. It was good. The real fun was hearing about the different techniques to make and name the wines. One wine was only from plants that grew on or near termite hills (where there is great soil and great plants, but worse grapes) and some only far from those hills. One wine was named "swallow" after the swallows that would nest on the fermenter. Good stories! One winery literally locked us in when we tried to visit. The sign said, "to get out, call security at.." but we didn't have a phone. Luckily, a delivery needed to be made 10 minutes after we found out we were locked in and the guards were out there opening it up. We wonder what they though about us just sitting and watching them.
Our next and last two nights were spent in a log cabin sitting on a lake with a porch and a fireplace. Jason learned how hard starting a fire could be in a cold environment with moist kindling. Yet, he found success and we both found warmth with our day's wine purchases, cheese and chocolate.
On the way back from wine country, Jessica directed us to a cheetah sanctuary. Pretty animals and quite nice, but very much independent thinking cats, not dogs!
Jason's nose led us to a micro-brewery with our first taste of real hops since we got here. Oh my! We learned that they have to import most of their hops and malts. No wonder it is so hard to find a nice beer here! Sierra Nevada, ready to go international?
Now we are heading back to Cape Town for some cafe sitting whale watching and shark diving!
Cheers!
Jason & Jessica
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